


Nobody but Nobody

by trapezoidscheme



Category: It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
Genre: M/M, alcohol drinkin, but theres also another one with more gang-typical discourse that i will psot later, i wrote twoooo fiiiics to fulfill this prompt but i'm posting this one for the exchange, vomit stuff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-14
Updated: 2017-05-14
Packaged: 2018-10-31 18:00:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,190
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10904511
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/trapezoidscheme/pseuds/trapezoidscheme
Summary: It’s a rare Wednesday night without Dee in the apartment and Mac and Dennis have pulled out all the stops, committed to taking full advantage of it. They’ve been sitting on the couch for the better part of the past two hours, marathoning Indiana Jones and getting drunk off of the liquor they found hidden in Dee’s closet.





	Nobody but Nobody

**Author's Note:**

  * For [](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts).



> the title is from the maya angelou poem that goes "nobody but nobody can make it out here alone"

“Who-- who--” Mac struggles to catch his breath through peals of laughter, a bottle of bright blue liquor balanced precariously on his knee, only being held back from certain shattering by his shaky hand.

Somewhere, away from the apartment, Dee shudders, an image flashing in her head of a freshly-vacuumed carpet stained bright blue. It’s a rare Wednesday night without her in the apartment and Mac and Dennis have pulled out all the stops, committed to taking full advantage of it. They’ve been sitting on the couch for the better part of the past two hours, marathoning Indiana Jones and getting drunk off of the liquor they found hidden in Dee’s closet. The two of them had been keeping tabs on the bottle for the past month and found no change in the levels, which led to the assumption that Dee had forgotten about it and that it is therefore fair game. Finders keepers, right?

Dennis claps Mac’s shoulder, encouraging him to continue. “Who what, dude?”

“Who thought-- who thought inventing blue alcohol was a good idea?” Mac dissolves into laughter again and Dennis chuckles along.

“Is that what you thought was so funny, bro?”

Mac shrugs with a grin and Dennis takes another pull from the bottle, chokes and sputters when Mac’s knee bumps his. Mac slaps his back enthusiastically, which, frankly, only makes it worse.

The sun slowly sets until the TV is the only thing illuminating the living room, and Dennis closes his eyes and breathes, basking in the distinct absence of his sister. It’s nice having Dee’s apartment to themselves for once. A couple hours ago, she had fucked off somewhere, said something about “being so sick of you assholes fucking up my apartment,” something about going to stay with Artemis. Oh well. Not like it’s his problem. If Dee wants to cry and whine about helping out her poor brother, who would be homeless otherwise, then that’s her emotional baggage to bear.

Besides, being next to Mac and looking at Mac without having to avoid Dee’s pointed looks and raised eyebrows is a relief, especially now, when he can’t exactly control it. He leans forward, studies Mac’s face as Mac fiddles with Dee’s fancy pillows. 

“Isn’t this neat?” Mac mumbles, half to himself, running his hand back and forth over the pillow. It turns different colors under Mac’s fingers, sequins turning back and forth, almost hypnotizing. Dennis can’t see the appeal, really. Doesn’t that just scratch up your face? Mac is living proof: his cheek is covered in light red scratches, and there’s something glinting suspiciously on his hairline.

Mac bites his lip in concentration, tracing designs into the pillow like it’s the most important thing he’s ever done. His hair, free of its gelly prison, flops into his eyes and Dennis’s fingers twitch, eager to brush it away. He reaches out and Mac flinches from his trance, and Dennis feels a spike of annoyance, suddenly jealous of a goddamn pillow from Five Below.

“Your teeth are blue,” Dennis says, eyebrows narrowing, irritation at Mac’s stupid face flaring up inside him.

“So are yours, Denn,” Mac says without looking up, as if Dennis doesn’t see that they were drinking the exact same thing. If he wants to be criticized, he would have looked in a mirror.

Another hour passes in much the same fashion: Mac doing everything he can to avoid Dennis’s eyes while Dennis gets increasingly irritated. He decides to try another tactic.

“You have really pretty eyes, you know,”  Dennis slurs conversationally. His arm creeps around Mac’s shoulders and he feels Mac stiffen and inhale sharply. “You okay dude?”

Mac nods frantically, willing himself to relax. They’re drunk, it’s fine, it’s just Dennis being drunk. Someone gets blown up on the screen and Dennis laughs, breath hot next to Mac’s ear.

“Are you just saying that because I’m gay now? Cause that’s-- that would be messed up, man,” Mac says. Dennis won’t stop making eye contact and Mac squirms under the attention, suddenly feeling very much like a subject under a microscope.

Dennis feigns shock, tries to act offended through a shit-eating grin. “Nah nah nah,” he says, waving his hands dismissively. “Straight people can have pretty eyes, too, don’t worry man.”

Mac nods, placated, slowly sinks into Dennis’s side and turns his attention back to the movie. He falls asleep sometime during Crystal Skull, buries his face into Dennis’s chest like he belongs there and snores softly. Dennis tries to ignore the way his heart clenches, tries to wrestle down the urge to tangle his fingers in Mac’s hair. “Tries” being the operative word. There’s a soft sigh from Mac when Dennis’s hand tentatively strokes his hair and Dennis smiles, satisfied. He threads his fingers through the the soft strands and turns his attention back to Indiana Jones’s plight.

~~~

“Huh, Dennis?” Mac’s eyes flutter open, and Dennis realizes that he might have been pulling on Mac’s hair more than stroking it. He roughly disentangles his fingers and Mac winces. “Are you okay?”

Dennis grabs for the bottle and finishes it, gulping down the shitty blue alcohol like a dying man. Mac sits up, yawning, leans back into the couch cushions and watches Dennis curiously. There's always something that's going to happen when Dennis gets like this, it’s just a matter of waiting to find out what it’s going to be. There's a pause as Dennis lets the alcohol flood his system, and he gives Mac an uneasy grin.

“I’m so in love with you, dude,” Dennis slurs. Wow, okay. That's new. Mac isn’t equipped to deal with this, not right now, not when Dennis is like this.

“Dennis…” Mac says softly. Dennis shakes his head, opening his mouth to explain himself. “Denn, you’re so drunk, just go to bed.”

“No, no, Mac, you love me too, don’t you? I know you do, you can’t lie to me.” Dennis looks earnest, for once, and his bottom lip trembles as he stares. 

Mac sighs. “Of course I do,” he says. “Of course I do.”

Dennis smiles wide, brackets Mac’s face with his hands and just watches his eyes, lets the moment shiver and hang in midair, like they’re both his mother’s expensive porcelain, ready to shatter at the slightest breath.

And that moment, right there, is the exact moment that Dennis throws up. All over Mac, and all over Dee’s couch, and the moment he had fought so hard to cultivate hits the floor and shatters on impact, soaked in vomit. Goddamnit, goddamnit, goddamnit…

“Oh my God!” Mac jumps away, rushes into the kitchen to get paper towels as Dennis sinks into the couch, tuning out the sounds coming from the TV. This is awful, maybe even the worst thing that has ever happened. It’s a little bit less awful, though, when Mac carries him to bed, and it’s less awful when Mac hesitates in the doorway, and it’s less awful when Mac turns around and comes toward him.

“I meant,” Dennis starts, interrupts himself with a hiccup. “I meant what I said before, I really--”

“I know.” Mac says. 

Hasn’t he always known?

**Author's Note:**

> thank you to @nickrhodes on tumblr for beta-reading!!  
> come follow me on tumblr, i'm @mcpoylehateblog  
> (i'm sorry about the lack of Keessing)


End file.
